Cost: Admission costs $6 for adults, $5 for seniors, and $4 for children

Visit: mariposamuseum.org

International chocolateCelebrate Charlie, Willy Wonka and all things chocolate

08/07/14

Who better to ask about chocolate than Willy Wonka and Charlie Bucket? The famous literary pair will help visitors to the “World of Chocolate” exhibit at the Mariposa Museum & World Culture Center in Peterborough take a deeper look at the global chocolate industry.

The “World of Chocolate” exhibit opened Aug. 1 and will remain open through January 2015.

“We wanted to take something that is very familiar, like a chocolate bar, and show how something that familiar can link the world,” said Karla Hostetler, Mariposa director. “It just became more and more fascinating as we started to think about it. … We had long wanted to do something with the Roald Dahl Literary Estate.”

The exhibit features two components that complement one another. One celebrates Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, how Willy Wonka structured his factory and what technologies the book describes in the process of creating sweets.

“We’re looking at the image of a factory as a window into the industry today,” Hostetler said. “Willy Wonka is sourcing cacao beans with labor technology, invention of new ideas, marketing.”

The exhibit also includes a Wonka Inventing Room, where visitors can play with a Gobstopper or cloud machine and explore Oompa Loompa land.

The second component of “World of Chocolate” features the origins of chocolate in Ancient Mexico, how it expanded into Europe and became an industry. Historical timelines follow the Caribbean sugar trade, how molasses gave rise to candy shops, and a look into smaller chocolate companies of today.

“The cacao industry is concerned that cacao will run out by the year 2020,” Hostetler said. “So we’re going to look at the reasons why and look at an industry that is so huge.”

That also includes the humanitarian concerns for cacao growers.

“The big question that we want to ask, with the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory component … [is] what about the present-day Charlie Buckets in the world?” Hostetler said.

The exhibit should leave visitors with a good taste in their mouths. Hostetler said tastings and special events will be incorporated into the exhibit as well.